bacchanal
Not since the fall of pagan Rome has there been an era utterly bathed in giddy hedonism as the glittering 1970’s. Unapologetic pansexuality, along with party drugs like cocaine and Quaalude, fueled an atmosphere of bacchanalian excess in which the relentless pursuit of pleasure would become society’s prevailing raison d'être. Discos, like Studio 54 in Manhattan, provided the strobe-lit backdrop against which the zeitgeist would play out.
In this series, Quaalude’s RORER 714 logo and Studio's infamous man-in-the-moon-with-a-coke-spoon become core icons around which the louche 70’s narrative unfolds. Immortal creatures like vampires and diablos symbolize the ne plus ultra of decadence while foreshadowing the specter of plague and addiction that was to kill the party forever.
VALLEY
As a former creative director in pharmaceutical advertising, I've witnessed first hand how drugs have radically changed the world. In this series I use pill motifs, in iconic clusterings and woven into psychedelic patterning, to examine America’s midcentury zeitgeist as fueled by the era’s exploding psychopharmacology.
ICON
Inspired by the religious portraiture of Eastern Christianity, this series imbues figurative representations with élan and narrative.
ROXY
The Roxy in New York was the home for house music, ecstasy, and gogo boys in the early 1990's. I was there, but I remember very little about it. This body of work reflects that glittering scene.
AMERICA WAS ALREADY GREAT
An examination of our divided nation using motifs from previous drug-themed portfolios.
DIET PILL
All about Obetrol: the 60's "diet pill" that fueled the zeitgeist and created many a beautiful junkie.
Indochine
A portrait, painted from memory, of the enchanting hostess at downtown New York's Indochine restaurant.
